From darkness to light:
A second year with only-online services as religious services in Ireland are still forbidden except online ones.
Holy Thursday: On Zoom with Holy Communion
Good Friday: on Youtube in German and on Zoom as Ecumenical Way of the Cross
Easter Sunday: on YouTube the Easter Vigil, the German Service and Children’s Service
Bi-lingual Service with Holy Communion on Zoom
In the Church
At many, many homes
Scattered over Ireland, Europe, America
Gathered around Jesus, the Word, Bread and Wine
Touched by Him, who brought God into daily life.
Konfi-Camp | Confirmation Class online
Gottesdienste | Services
only online, as the restrictions are still in place (only 5k movement, no physical services allowed)
Alle links gibt es über die KirchenMail – bitte nachfragen, wer nicht auf dem Verteiler ist!
All links will be provided through newsletter – please ask if you are not on the list!
Gründonnerstag | Holy Thursday:
Karfreitag | Good Friday:
Ostersonntag |Easter Sunday:
No parade, no celebration, only online events: So Patrick visited St. Finian’s 😉
It’s the beginning of March and we are still in the 5-km-lockdown. Each first Tuesday of a month at 1pm. Lovely to bring St. Finian’s Church to the people and the voice of the people into the abandoned church. I love the reflections of the altar stained glass windows in the screen.
Predigtreihe zur Passionszeit über Psalm 23 / Following the words of Psalm 23 through the time of Lent
Seit bald einem Jahr ist uns Verzicht auferlegt: Verzicht auf Teile des Einkommens für viele von uns, Verzicht auf soziale Kontakte und Reisen, Verzicht auf Nähe und Kultur, beschränkter Aktionsradius auf 5km seit nunmehr zwei Monaten. Deswegen soll dieses Jahr in der Passionszeit nicht Verzicht und Leid im Mittelpunkt unserer Gottesdienste stehen, sondern etwas Ermutigendes. Da bietet sich Psalm 23 an. Vertraute Worte, die viele von uns auswendig können. Bis einschließlich Ostern lassen wir uns von diesen alten Worten inspirieren. Mehr zum ersten Vers findet ihr unterhalb des Fotos, das vor ein paar Monaten in den Wicklow Mountains am Turlough Hill entstanden ist.
Der Herr ist mein Hirte: Ein guter Hirte geht hinter seinen Schafen her und überlässt ihnen Freiheit und Kompetenz. Der gute Hirte gibt die grobe Richtung vor und greift nur in Extremfällen ein. Das macht Gott, etwa mit den 10 Geboten oder dem Liebesgebot Jesu. Das Bild vom guten Hirten hat mit Vertrauen zu tun. Interessant ist, dass im Psalm 22 das genaue Gegenteil benannt wird: Mein Gott, mein Gott, warum hast du mich verlassen, heißt es da. Gottverlassenheit und Vertrauen in Gottes Kraft liegen oft sehr nah beieinander in unserem Leben. Gerade in einer Pandemie kennen viele von uns diese “Achterbahn” des Glaubens. Beides gilt es, wahrzunehmen. Möge Jesu Wort, dass er selbst der gute Hirte ist, der sein Leben lässt für die Schafe, uns ermutigen, immer wieder zurückzufinden zum Gottvertrauen.
A short message on this rainy Friday, 19th February:
Live is on hold, and for many of us this is really tough. But life isn’t always easy. Don’t loose the hope and the perseverance!
By the way: what a nice coincidence that the Mars robot mission with it’s successful landing (yesterday) is called Perseverance (I found it absolutely fascinating that modern technology is able to manage such a landing)!
There is a longing of traveling and meeting people as there are so many conferences, lectures and even private journeys cancelled since one year.
But this week I was happy about two very interesting meetings on Zoom. This is the good outcome of a pandemic: Technology makes meetings happen.
The first one: On Tuesday 2nd February, I followed the invitation of Kairos Ireland to listen to Dr. Munthar Isaac, Lutheran Pastor at the Christmas Church in Bethlehem/Palestine: He spoke about “Reading the Bible as a Palestinian Christian” with very good biblical insights that have the potential to lead the discussion about Palestine’s future into a shared-land-policy.
The second “journey” brought me to Scotland yesterday, 4th February: It was the first UN International Day of Human Fraternity. Great honor for me: The Lutheran Church in Ireland hosted a talk with Imam Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi from Scotland on behalf of Dublin City Interfaith Forum und Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association:
Uplifting and touching talk with lot of hope. Imam Sayed was one of the four Imams who met Pope Francis in 2017 to build a better relationship between Islam and Christianity.
Christmas 2020: The Church doors kept close. The church council decided to cancel all services in the church due to the rising number of COVID-cases. Nearly nobody saw the beautiful Christmas tree and the crib there. So we celebrated only online – two services on 24th and one on 25th December. But it was not only sad. We had a beautiful nativity play, done by several families online. We experienced a new type of cathedrals: Beside the eternal cathedral of God in heaven and the beautiful cathedrals on earth our living rooms became new cathedrals.
The most important message of this Christmas was the angel’s voice:
Do not be afraid!
